Dead bride tied up, raped, mother says

Apr. 11, 2010 12:00 AMAssociated Press

SHUEBA, Yemen - A 13-year-old Yemeni child bride who bled to death shortly after marriage was tied down and forced to have sex by her husband, according to interviews with the child's mother, police and medical reports.

The girl's mother, Nijma Ahmed, 50, told the Associated Press that before her daughter lost consciousness, she said that her husband had tied her up and forced himself on her.

"She looked like she was butchered," she said about her daughter's injuries.

Elham Assi, 13, bled to death hours after she spoke to her mother and just days after she was married to a 23-year-old man. She died on April 2 in the deeply poor Yemeni village of Shueba, 120 miles from the capital. Her husband, Abed al-Hikmi, is in police custody.

The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in Yemen where a quarter of all females marry before the age of 15, according to a 2009 report by the country's Ministry of Social Affairs. Traditional families prefer young brides because they are seen as more obedient and are expected to have more children.

The girl - one of eight siblings - was pushed into marriage after an agreement between her brother and her future husband to marry each other's sisters to avoid having to pay expensive bride prices - a common arrangement in Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East.